Well just found this.(Primo forum)
Well written and i can se some points in it.
Enjoy:
"I saw this discussion and I could not resist jumping in. I have been lurking for a few months but have not contributed in some time. Given that smoking food is a fairly straightforward process with only three main variables the issue of smoke, heat, and moisture are the focus of our attention as such they are subject to a great deal of mythology and folklore. A simple scientific review will assist in determining the "proper" or most efficient methodology to employ. Of course that being said this is barbecue and reason and science often take the backseat to instinct and tradition.
As we all know barbecue got its start in the cooking of the "lower" portions of the animals that were passed up by the more genteel folks in society( whom are said to live high on the hog). These were meats that were made up of muscles that were used regularly by the animal thus full of much connective tissues, large fibers, and generally very tough. But the first cook who discovered the basic proper methodology to these m eats was rewarded with the magical meal we call BBQ.
Some paleo-biologists posit that the first barbecue experience may have been a wandering tribe happening upon the carcass of an animal that had succumbed to a forest fire and that had been slowly roasted over the smoldering wood, sounds nice was probably delicious, but probably needed a good rub.
Now, the issue in this question was whether to use water or not? Scientifically speaking the answer is Yes. However there is a methodology and procedure that must be employed to gain the benefits of using water. It is already established that the best methodology for cooking tough and fibrous meats is braising, braising has commonly come to mean cooking under low heat in a high moisture environment. The purpose of braising is that a low, moist, long heat will break down the collagen in the meat, melting it thus internally basting the meat, tenderizing, and improving flavor in one fell swoop.
However, braising is a specific French technique in which a food is actually cooked under two different sorts of heat. The first generally being a high intense searing of the meat to encourage a Maillard reaction (or commonly mistakenly referred to as carmelization.) A Maillard reaction generally occurs when meat is heated above 310°F. Since the maillard reaction is a combination between the residual sugars and proteins found in red meat, and the smoking process helps to denature the proteins in the same meat, the smoking process and its low heat can be viewed to create a modified maillard reaction. Thus creating the bark we all seek.
I explain all of the above as it is the initial phase of what we are attempting to do which is a modified braise, instead of using high heat initially to stimulate the maillard reaction we are using a combination of low heat and smoke to do that. This modified first step will satisfy the first portion of the traditional braise. It is in the second portion of “the braise” the moist heat, that barbecue minds differ. I will not even address the concept of boiling your ribs prior and then dry smoking them (as a modified reverse braise method) as people who do that do not own Primos (I hope). Many people choose to foil their ribs in which they are simply “braising them” (cooking under low heat in a high moisture environment).
So when to use water? It is generally accepted that meats to be subjected to an intense smoking for one to one and a half hours prior to reaching an internal temperature of 150°, thus allowing the smoke to react with the proteins and denature the myoglobin, giving us the flavor and the smoke ring a that we all crave. After that generally speaking the smoke work is done, the low and slow method is in itself a modified braise as the low heat and the moisture in the meat will create an environment that will help to reduce collagen. However
This is where the water can help you do the heavy barbecue lifting; the idea is to have a water pan that has enough thermal mass to prevent heating to evaporative temperatures until the smoke has denatured the proteins in the meat. Once that occurs, let the moisture do its thing. Once the water reaches a temperature in which the water begins to evaporate it will then increase the moisture of the air passing over the meat and escaping out of the grill, this will give you a high moisture low, heat environment (braise). The benefit of having enough water to withstand the initial heating is that you will also have enough water to last throughout the entire cook (assuming cook time <6 hours) When done properly, this will negate the need to use the foil step when making ribs.
A standard large lasagna pan (4.5” x 12”x18”) filled ¾ of the way up will set on top of the D-plate racks, provide a heat shield and will provide enough moisture for a long cook (it will also catch all of the drippings) it will also clean easy as long as it is never cooked to dry. Lasagna pans are used, first because of its size and second because when cooking lasagna it must be subjected to baking temperatures therefore they are generally of more substance and provide more of a thermal barrier than tinfoil pans and they do not have handles like most roasting pans do.
So that brings us to the next question of what you should add? Water, just water, unless of course you plan on drinking or cooking with the remaining pig drippings, water/juice mixture that remains in the drip pan after the cook. Many people in the world of barbecue and on this website use apple juice, also cheap bourbon, beer and other sorts of juices have been suggested to add to the water. You might as well drink them because it will absolutely do nothing to your barbecue. Science tells us that when a solution is exposed to heat, the contents of the solution will vaporize and escape the solution based on their chemical volatility and boiling points. All juices and alcohols contain a similar chemical structure. Juices contain phenolic compounds that give them their particular flavor profiles, sugar and approximately 60 to 90% water. Whiskey and beer contain alcohol (which is chemically almost identical to phenols except that in alcohol the hydrogen and oxygen are bonded to a saturated carbon) sugar and about 50% to 90% water respectively.
Why is this important? Because many phenols are so volatile that they will evaporate in water as low as 40 to 50°F, and occur in small quantities thus rendering them ineffective to impart any beneficial flavor profiles, many other phenols are so chemically sound that a boil and upwards of 350° (well past the boiling point of water at 212°F) thus rendering them ineffective to part any flavor. Juices and alcohols are used in cooking however because the compounds in particular may be alcohol/phenol soluble, releasing new flavors and then the phenols/alcohols evaporate.
So even if the entire drip pan were filled with Apple juice, any volatile phenolic compounds would evaporate immediately or remain in the pan. The other ingredients of your drip pan would be water and fructose, glucose and maltose in varying amounts. Given that the sugars are solids dissolved in solution, once the water is boiled away the sugars will remain in the pan. So by boiling apple juice in drip pan, you will be creating perfectly distilled water vapor (if you're able to turn that vapor back into water (condense) it would be distilled water free of all impurities and any chemical compounds other than H2O would be left in the pan, thus the entire reason for distilled water and its particular applications)
So chemically and scientifically speaking the most efficient technique to use a drip pan would be to build a fire with a wood of your choice once you are sure it will not go out, place the D. plate racks on the grill, place your large lasagna pan on top of the racks and fill it ¾ of the way with ice water (mainly water as the only purpose of the ice is to make sure that water cold as possible) **
Then place the meat which you have rubbed and left in refrigerator uncovered overnight (the dry refrigerator dehydrates the surface of the meat allowing for better bark formation and facilitating the myogloben/smoke reaction we are looking for) for the first part of the process, dryer is better as it will enhance the retention of smoke flavor. Close the grill, set your vents bring it to your desired temperature and smoke as usual. As a guide, spareribs will cook in approximately 4 1/2 to 5 hours. (If conditions are ideal your ribs should then be stored covered in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then brought up the temperature on a very hot grill the next day. (Why? That's for another post))
I know many people will take exception with the above post (not just because of its length) but because anecdotal evidence and experience has led them to believe otherwise. But even though science may not recognize anecdotes and wive’s tales, invariably, when they are proven to be efficacious all anecdotes and wives tales are ultimately and finally grounded in science.
